Cheap Area 88, Act 1: Blue Skies of Betrayal (Video) (Hisayuki Toriumi) Price

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Customer Reviews of Area 88, Act 1: Blue Skies of Betrayal

A game based on the anime called U.N. Squadron in the U.S., came out years ago on Arcade and Super Nintendo. It's a great horizontal shooter game like Gradius and you earn money by destroying enemy ships to buy newer planes. You also play as the pilots from the anime like Shin, Mickey, and Greg!

WINGS OF DEATH!
I was a kid when a friend of mine brought this animation (we still called them that back then in greece) as a rental back in '86.You've read the other reviews so you know the story.This is a movie to put all fighter jet action fliks of the '80s(and not only) out of
commission with fast paced and gruesome combat scenes,a story that is both griping emotionally and unafraid to state a few truths about politics,afairs between countries,fighting men mentality,money and corporations.
If there ever was a reason to take manga seriously, that movie is
amongst the best.After it was over i could never go back to believing Hollywoods heroe making lies.Just see it.

An awesome anime series
For many years in Japan, the Area 88 manga (comic book) series has been wildly popular, and has spawned everything from model kits to a Super Famicom (Super Nintendo) game (if you're interested in that game, it was released in America under the name U.N. Squadron.) In 1985, a 3-part Anime series based on the popular manga was made. Though this series is, for the most part, nonexistant in the states, U.S. Manga Corps and King Video have released the anime series here at long last, in both Dub and Sub versions. The following releases are available in America:

DVD Act I Dub and Sub
VHS Act I Dub
VHS Act I Sub
VHS Act II Dub
VHS Act II Sub
VHS Act III Sub

Now, I'll give you a brief summary of the series itself. Don't worry, I won't spoil any surprises. Shin Kazama and Satoru Kanzaki were very good friends ever since their childhood together in the same orphanage. As they grew older, they developed a love for flying and decided to become airline pilots for Japan's biggest and most successful airline, Yamato Airlines (YAL.) Shin fell in love with Ryoko, daughter of the president of YAL. This makes Satoru insanely jealous, though he does a good job restricting his anger. To get revenge on Shin and to steal Ryoko for himself, he get Shin drunk on the last night of airline pilot school, and tricks him into signing a contract. The contract states that the signer must do battle in the Asran Civil War, taking place in the middle east. Sure enough, Shin is shipped off to Asran to fight in a mercenary air force, while Satoru attempts to get Ryoko for himself. The once peaceful Shin Kazama must now kill for hire, thousands of miles away from his love. There are only four ways out of Area 88: Serve for three years, pay $1,500,000, desert, or die.

This DVD is nice since it has both a dub and a sub, but it's quite lacking in the extras department. All you get are trailers for other animes. The so called "character profiles" are just scenes from the series of the characters in question - kind of a rip if you ask me.

Area 88 is an AWESOME series about the horrors of war, even if it's animated and the animation is dated. Be warned, this is a VERY serious series, and there is very little comic relief. This is NOT a cartoon for little kids. It contains violence, use of cigarettes and alcohol, and brief nudity. I recommend it for ages 13 and up. If you want a good anime series and the ones on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim or Tech TV's Anime Unleashed aren't doing it for you, give Area 88 a whirl. You'll be glad you did.